1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the structure of flat display apparatuses.
The present application claims priority from Japanese Application No. 2002-362787, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, slim and flat display apparatuses have become increasingly widespread as a display apparatus having a flat display panel, such as a plasma display panel (referred to as “PDP”), field emission display panel (referred to as “FED”), inorganic or organic EL display panel, liquid crystal display panel (referred to as “LCD”), and the like.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating a structure for supporting a drive circuit board provided for driving a flat display panel of a conventional flat display apparatus for generation of an image.
In FIG. 1, the flat display apparatus has a flat display panel 1 supported by a chassis 2, and a drive circuit board 3 mounted on the rear face of the chassis 2 and supported parallel to the flat display panel 1.
The drive circuit board 3 is connected to the flat display panel 1 by a wiring board (e.g. TCP: Tape Carrier Package) 4 curving around a side of the chassis 2.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, the wiring board 4 has a driver integrated circuit 4B fixed in a substantially central portion of a plate-shaped board body 4A, an electrode terminal 4C formed in one edge (the lower edge in FIG. 2) of the board body 4A and connected to the flat display panel 1, and an electrode terminal 4D formed in the other edge (the upper edge in FIG. 2) and connected to the drive circuit board 3.
The wiring board 4 further has a flection 4E extending in a portion parallel to the electrode terminal 4C between the driver integrated circuit 4B and the electrode terminal 4C on the board body 4A. The flection 4E enables the bending of the board body 4A. Further a flection 4F extends in parallel to the electrode terminal 4D in a portion between the driver integrated circuit 4B and the electrode terminal 4D.
The wiring board 4 is placed in front of the lateral end of the chassis 2 in a position approximately right angles to the flat display panel. The wiring board 4 is then bent at the flections 4E so that the electrode terminal 4C becomes parallel to the flat display panel 1. Then the electrode terminal 4C is connected to an electrode terminal of the flat display panel 1 by means of thermo-compression bonding. The wiring board 4 is also bent at the flections 4F so that the electrode terminal 4D becomes parallel to the drive circuit board 3. Then the electrode terminal 4D is connected to an electrode terminal of the drive circuit board 3 by means of thermo-compression bonding.
Such the foregoing conventional flat display apparatuses is showed in JP Pat. Publication No. 2000-56701.
In the foregoing conventional flat display apparatus, the flat display panel 1 and the drive circuit board 3 are arranged in parallel to each other with the chassis 2 in between. The wiring board 4 is placed in front of the lateral end of the chassis 2 in a position approximately at right angles to the flat display panel 1 so as to straddle the chassis 2 for establishing a connection between the flat display panel 1 and the drive circuit board 3. With this structure, the thickness of the chassis 2 causes an increase not only in the space between the flat display panel 1 and the drive circuit board 3, but also in the length of the wiring board 4, making unnecessary the use of an expensive wiring board 4. The use of an expensive wiring board is a factor in the increase of the production costs.